Juventus director general Luciano Moggi is all smiles as he takes Fabrizio Miccoli and Enzo Maresca back to Turin for a bargain, but Fiorentina are fuming.
“Last summer we gave Miccoli and Maresca to the Viola for £6.3m,” explained the transfer guru. “A year later we’re taking them back for £1.6m. It seems like a bargain to me.”
Talks over the future of the players at the end of the co-ownership deal failed to find a breakthrough last night, so the matter went to a blind auction – both clubs submit one secret bid to the Italian Football League, with the team who offers more money taking control of the player.
It seems the Bianconeri did not need to bust the bank in order to complete the signings, as both players arrived for under £2m – giving Juve a £4m profit on the overall transaction.
“We had taken on a large financial commitment to other clubs and nobody took that into account,” fumed Fiorentina director Pantaleo Corvino. “We tried to keep all our players, but could not accept the figures we were being asked for.”
Maresca has been one of the Viola’s most impressive players this season, but both clubs offered just a few thousand Euros in the blind auction.
“The main problem with Maresca was his wage deal and the fact we’d already spent £1.6m for him. It was a financial bloodbath.”
Meanwhile, their future at Juve is far from certain, as there are already strong reports that Miccoli and Maresca will be offered to Roma in part-exchange for Antonio Cassano.
“Cassano will absolutely not join us this year,” insisted the master media manipulator Moggi. “We’ll see if the two ex-Fiorentina men will stay or not. When you have good players in your hands, you have a lot more options at your disposal.”
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